Inspection Second
by YT1
Summary: A Season 1 story. Bob's up for a surprise evaluation by the Guardian Collective, Megabyte is implementing yet another scheme and Hexadecimal is bored. Put these together and what do you get?...*FINISHED*
1. Introduction and Acknowledgements

Inspection Second

A First-Season _ReBoot_ fanfic by YT

This story takes place within the world of _ReBoot,_ a computer-animated cartoon series created by Mainframe Entertainment, Inc.  The characters and setting are used without permission but with the best of intent.

As for this story, if you wish to reprint it in part or as a whole, please e-mail me first.

This is a Season 1 fanfic – it doesn't contain any spoilers, but you'll enjoy it more if you've watched a few episodes of _ReBoot._

My time system is as follows:

1 cycle = 1 second, 1 nanosecond = 1 minute, 1 millisecond = 1 hour, 1 second = 1 day,

1 minute = 1 week, 1 hour = 1 month

And my distance system:

1 nanometer = 1 millimeter, 1 micrometer = 1 meter, 1 millimeter = 1 kilometer

Thanks to Val, Alryssa and Teluekh of the ReBoot Mayhem boards for all their help and support.

And now, the story begins…


	2. Chapter 1

"Where _is_ he?" Dot exclaimed, incensed.  "He was supposed to meet us here at 1200.  He's half a millisecond late."  Tardiness was one of her pet peeves.

It was a beautiful second in Mainframe.  Dot, Enzo and Frisket were in Floating Point Park, sitting around (or, in Frisket's case, under) a picnic table.  The trio should have been enjoying themselves, but they weren't.  Dot had laid out a tablecloth and a sumptuous repast upon said table, with place settings for three.  Had things gone as planned, most of the food would have been eaten by now.  But Bob had not shown up, so the food on the table was untouched and the three individuals present were miserable.

"Maybe he forgot?" Enzo suggested.  Frisket whimpered.  Both of them were hungry, but Dot had said not to touch the food until Bob arrived.

"He's never forgotten to meet us before," she said.  She tried to VidWindow Bob, but he had his BRB code on.  That made her a little concerned – he rarely ever did that.

She frowned, sighed and stood up.  "It looks like Bob isn't going to show up.  You and Frisket can have lunch.  I'm going to see what happened to Bob.  Stay near the picnic table, all right?  I'll be back in a few nanoseconds."

Enzo nodded.  "We promise.  We'll stay right here."  He and Frisket started in on the picnic lunch while Dot set off for Kits Sector on her zipboard.  If Bob's absence was due to anything less than a major emergency, the Guardian was going to have a _lot_ of explaining to do.  Dot had taken a lot of trouble to set up the picnic.

It didn't take her long to reach Bob's apartment building.  She descended, minimized her zipboard and entered the lift.  Once it reached the top floor, she got out, stalked up to Bob's apartment door and pressed the buzzer.

From within the apartment came a muffled "_Gyah!_", followed by some noise that was a cross between a crash and a splash, then the sound of something metallic rolling across a tile floor.  Dot winced.  After a short pause she heard a sort of slippery squeak accompanied by a "_Whoa!_" and a loud _thump._  The door opened a few cycles afterward, revealing a rather embarrassed Guardian who was obviously having some major difficulties.

Dot took in the apron he was wearing over his uniform, the wet mop in his hand, the soapy data that soaked him from the knees down, and the expression of absolute terror on his face.  She also noticed the trail of wet footprints he had left on his carpet.  She frowned.  "Bob, what's going on?  You were supposed to meet us for a picnic.  You could have called…"

Bob's expression changed, slowly, form scared to apologetic.  "I'm…I'm sorry, Dot.  I completely forgot.  Um…"  He sighed.  "I'm having some problems."  Bob went back to looking scared.  Dot's anger changed into sympathy – there was obviously something serious going on, though she couldn't figure out what it might be.  The Guardian stepped back from the door and gestured for her to enter the apartment, which she did.  "I suppose…I should explain this," Bob said haltingly.

"What's wrong?" Dot asked.  It was then that she noticed the open bathroom door.  Inside, the floor was flooded with soapy data.  The sight of a metal bucket, laying on its side, gave her a clue as to the sequence of events that had taken place between her ringing of the buzzer and Bob's answering the door.

"I'm having my Guardian evaluation this second," Bob informed her gravely.  "I found out just before 1200."

Now she understood why he was so anxious.  "They didn't give you a lot of warning," she observed.

"They didn't warn _me_.  It's supposed to be a surprise inspection," he explained.  "But they _did_ alert the Principal Office, since the inspector is going to be bringing in some updates for the system too.  Phong VidWindowed me when he got the message.  I'm sorry I didn't call you but…well…I sort of panicked," he admitted.

Now it was all clear.  "I guess the inspector is going to check your living area, too?" she asked.  Bob nodded.

"I've heard that they do a white-glove test," Bob said, "To check for dust.  That's why I was trying to clean the apartment.  I'm really sorry," he apologized again.

Dot put her hand on his shoulder.  "That's all right.  I understand now.  Here, let me help you clean up."  She started mopping the data off the bathroom floor while Bob went to his room to put on a clean clothing format.  Afterwards, he returned to help her finish the cleaning.  The two of them had just finished when Glitch beeped.

"That's probably the inspector now," Bob said.  He swallowed nervously, lifted his arm so he could look at Glitch's gearwheel, and told the keytool to let the incoming message through.

            Although she didn't see the face in the gearwheel, Dot could hear the voice of the person on the other end – a woman's voice, one that was stern, sharp and suggestive of an unforgiving nature.

            "Bob, Guardian 452?" the voice said.  Bob straightened up and saluted so the person on the other end of the connection could see it.

            "Yes ma'am!" he said crisply.

            "I am Dweila, Guardian 216.  I am here to inspect your system and your performance record," the voice said, as if reciting from a script – which she probably was.  "I have just entered your system and I am landing my craft in the Principal Office hangar.  I expect you to be here within the next ten nanoseconds."  Not one for pleasantries at all.

            "I'll be there, Ma'am!" Bob assured her.

"Good.  Guardian 216 out."  Bob lowered his arm and exchanged a glance with Dot before he double-clicked his icon, changing his clothing format to his dress uniform.  Then he moved to leave the apartment.

            "The inspector didn't use a portal?" she queried as she followed Bob to the apartment door.

            "It's the system updates for the Principal Office," Bob answered as they got into the lift.  "Since it's such a large amount of code, she had to bring it in a computer core.  Bringing the core through a portal would probably erase the code, so she had to use a Net craft to get here, instead of a portal."  The two of them maximized their zipboards and hopped on.

            Bob was trying to look calm and not succeeding very well.  She tried to encourage him.  "I'm sure you'll do fine," she said.  "You're a great Guardian.  Don't worry."  Her words didn't seem to help.

            "There's plenty of reason to worry, if the things I've heard about these inspections are true…" he trailed off.

            Dot couldn't even imagine what it was that he feared – she had never seen him this scared before, for any reason.  "If there's anything I can do to help," she told him, "I'll do it."

            Bob smiled at her as they descended toward the closest Principal Office door.  "Thanks for the offer," he said, "But I think I'm going to have to get through this one on my own."


	3. Chapter 2

            Silicon Tor reared up over G-Prime like a cobra preparing to strike.  It was a testament to the personality of its architect and principal inhabitant, the viral lord Megabyte.  He, too, was much like a predator about to strike – most of his time was spent plotting, scheming and preparing, as he was doing now.

            In the throne room on the top of the tower, Megabyte was processing the information he had just received from one of his spies in the Principal Office.  A Guardian Net ship.  This event had great implications for him.

            "So…this ship is bringing new updates to the system," he said, tapping his fingertips together.  "This could be a problem.  But it could also be…" - he rotated his throne so that he was facing Hack and Slash – "An opportunity."

            The two robots looked at their master, then at each other, then back at Megabyte again.  They were as BASIC as BASIC could be, but they were smart enough, at least, not to attempt a reply.

            "Those system updates probably include new security measures," Megabyte said, "That will prevent me from monitoring system communications."  He had only recently figured out a way to do this, and all his hard work would be for nothing if the updates were installed.  "But there is something else on that ship's computer.  Something I want very much."  He looked at his two robot lackeys expectantly.

            "Err…" Hack was trying to find an appropriate response to this.  He finally decided on one.  "What is that, boss?"

                        "Yeah, what is it?" Slash chimed in.

            Megabyte leaned back in his throne and smiled confidently.  "The codes to the Supercomputer.  I _must_ get that core!"  The virus pressed a button on his throne, giving his spy at the docks the signal to contact him as soon as possible.

            Two nanoseconds later a VidWindow appeared in front of the throne.  On the other end of the connection was Charl_E, a zero binome who worked as a technician in the Principal Office.  "Yes, Lord Megabyte?" he asked.

            "Your information was most helpful," Megabyte said.  Charl_E smiled at the compliment.  "But I have another task for you.  Listen carefully…"

~***~

            Bob and Dot landed their zipboards in the Principal Office hangar, where the CPUs were docked.  They minimized their zipboards and walked up to a white craft emblazoned with the black-and-yellow Guardian icon.  A door in the ship's side slid open, and a female Guardian stepped out of it.  She turned to face Bob, who saluted her.  "Guardian 452 reporting as ordered, Ma'am," he said.

            The inspector – Dweila, or Guardian 216 - was tall and lean, with an angular face and a perpetual frown.  Her skin was a lime-green color, and her dreadlocked, reddish-brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail.   She was carrying an organizer pad under one arm, presumably for taking notes with.  Dot noted (with disapproval) that although Bob was wearing his dress uniform, the inspector was wearing the standard Guardian uniform.  If Dot had been in Bob's place, she would have felt insulted.  She decided, right then and there, that she did not like this woman one bit.

            "At ease," Dweila said.  Bob complied.  The inspector looked at Dot, as if expecting her to explain herself.

            Dot put on her best smile.  She disliked Dweila, but she could help Bob by being polite.  "Hello.  My name is Dot Matrix.  On behalf of the inhabitants of the system, I would like to welcome you to Mainframe," she said.

            The inspector nodded.  "I am Guardian Lieutenant Dweila.  Glad to make your acquaintance," she said.  She didn't sound as if she meant it.  She addressed Bob again.  "My ship needs a tune-up.  I have also bought updates for this system's Principal Office – they are contained in the ship's computer core.  Someone needs to bring them to the control room for installation," she said curtly.

            "I'll take care of that, ma'am," Dot said, trying to sound cheerful.  Dweila peered at her, suspicion obvious in her eyes.  Dot realized that she had just made a mistake – of course the inspector wouldn't trust just anyone with the welfare of her ship!

            Bob saved her.  "You can trust Dot, ma'am," Bob assured her.  "She works with the system administrators."  That wasn't _precisely _true, but it wasn't a lie either – it would do.  The inspector glanced at him, then nodded.  She took a small gold-and-white passkey from her belt and held it out to Dot.

            The inspector looked at her organizer.  "All right.  First on the list: an inspection of your living quarters."  Bob nodded to her and saluted again.  The two Guardians went to the bay door, maximized their zipboards and set off for Bob's apartment in Kits Sector.

            Dot wondered if the inspectors really _did_ do a white-glove test.  When Bob had told her about it, she'd thought it was unlikely, but it seemed to her that this Dweila was just the type who _would_ do something like that.  No wonder Bob had the jaggies.

~***~

            After the Guardians left, Charl_E approached Ms. Matrix, who appeared to be deep in thought.  The binome cleared his throat to get her attention.  "Ms. Matrix," he said, "I can take care of tuning up the ship."  He pulled a small wrench out of his tool belt.

            Dot nodded at him.  "Thanks," she said, handing the ship's passkey to Charl_E.  "And can you please remove the computer core from the ship and give it to Phong?"

            "Certainly, Ms. Matrix," Charl_E said.  While Dot VidWindowed Phong for a CPU, the binome boarded the Guardian ship.  He closed the door behind him.  The inside of the ship, like the outside, was sleek and mostly white.  On the ship's control panels and readout screens, lights blinked and flickered in an electronic dance.  Charl_E whistled appreciatively – this ship was of a much better class than anything that could be found in Mainframe.

The viewport at the helm was tinted, so that one could see through it from the inside but not the outside.  This was a good place to make the call from.  Charl_E nodded to himself, and opened a VidWindow to Silicon Tor. 

~***~

            Megabyte tapped the blinking button on the arm of his throne, and a VidWindow opened before him.  "Ah, Charl_E," he said.  "I see you got into the Guardian's ship.  Very good."

            "Do you want me to bring you the computer core, Lord Megabyte?" Charl_E asked, eager to please.

            "No, not yet," Megabyte said.  "Otherwise they will become suspicious.  Let them install their updates."  He would lose the ability to monitor Mainframe's communications network, but it was a small price to pay for the Supercomputer!  "Once the updates have been installed, get the computer core and contact me as soon as possible."

            In the VidWindow, Charl_E saluted him.  "Yes, sir!  Understood!"

            "Good.  That is all."  Megabyte closed the VidWindow and smiled to himself.  By the end of the second, the Supercomputer would be his for the taking.


	4. Chapter 3

            Bob felt like he was going to go random any cycle now.  Guardian Lieutenant Dweila was looking over his apartment.  She hadn't done a white-glove test, but she had scrutinized everything quite thoroughly.  He couldn't tell whether he had passed or failed this part of the inspection, because her expression never changed – it was always a critical scowl.

            Finally, the inspector turned to look at him.  "Everything seems fine here," she said.  Bob was relieved.  He hoped it didn't show on his face.

            His relief evaporated when the inspector paused for a few moments, looking pensive.  "Between you and me…" she began.  _Oh no.  That can't be good…_

            "Between you and me, I don't approve of this whole experiment with the viruses."  She turned to face Bob.  She might as well have been pointing a gun at him and threatening to pull the trigger.  "I don't think the Prime Guardian should have put this burden on you."

            Bob did a mental doubletake.  He couldn't believe his ears.  "Excuse me, ma'am?"

            "Reprogramming viruses is impossible.  I don't know why Turbo thinks otherwise."  She paused for a moment and regarded Bob carefully before continuing.  "He instructed me to tell you that you have the option of ending the experiment – we can call in a virus control team from the Supercomputer, if you make that choice.  But this might be the last time that you are given that option," Dweila said.  "I'd advise you to say yes.  Even an experienced Guardian would have difficulty in your position, and you've only been in the field for a little more than a day."

            Bob didn't know whether he should have felt grateful or offended: The inspector was willing to make allowances for him because she thought that he had been _ordered_ to run this experiment.  She didn't know that he had proposed the idea to Turbo in the first place.  He couldn't blame her for that – there were few who knew about the experiment, and fewer still who knew all the details.  That was understandable.

But she was calling also into question his ability to deal with the challenges inherent in that experiment.  Even though he had been dealing with them, and overcoming them, for more than a day.  He certainly wasn't going to cave in now.

            "Please tell the Prime Guardian that I appreciate his offer," Bob said, with a note of strength in his voice that had hitherto been lacking, "But I think I can handle things as they are.  Ma'am."  _Even if _you _don't think I can._

            She narrowed her eyes as him, just a little bit.  "Bob, you're either the bravest sprite I've ever met, or the dumbest," she said.  "However…if you change your mind before I leave this system, just tell me."  She looked at her organizer again, then went back to business as usual.  "Now then; I must interview the Command.com and some of the Principal Office staff on the subject of your performance as Guardian of this system," she said.

            The two of them left the apartment, and were soon heading to the Principal Office on zipboards.  Bob had been absolutely terrified earlier this second, but now he was confident that he would pass the inspection.  Everything would be just fine.

~***~

            "Phong, sir?" Phong turned away from the console to face the zero binome who was addressing him.  The binome held out a white box.  "I extracted the computer core from the ship, sir.  You can start installing the upgrades now."

            "Thank you," Phong responded, taking the box in his hands.  He went to another console into which a round socket was set, opened the box, and removed the cylindrical computer core from it.  He then put one end of the cylinder into the slot and pressed a button.

            A screen flickered to life before him with the words "_Please Enter Password._"  Phong scratched his head.

            "It appears that we will need to wait for the inspector," he remarked.  Maybe it was just his imagination, but the binome looked a little nervous upon hearing this.  If that was indeed the case, Phong could not blame him.  The inspector made even him uneasy.  "In the meanwhile, please make sure to tune up her craft as she requested."

            The binome startled.  "Tune up?  Oh.  Yes sir."  He threw a quick salute and hurried out the door.

            Phong shook his head.  The inspector seemed to have everyone on edge this second – he could hardly imagine how bad things must be for Bob.

~***~

            "A Guardian lieutenant?" Enzo said excitedly when his sister told him the news at home.  "Alphanumeric!  I want to meet him!"  Frisket barked in agreement.

            Dot shook her head.  "It's a her, and I don't think that's a good idea."

            Enzo frowned.  "Why not?  I'm sure she can take a couple of nanoseconds to talk to me.  Please?"  It would make up for Bob missing the picnic.

            "She's on a tight schedule," Dot answered quickly.

            "But Dot…"

            "I said _no_."

            Enzo bit his lower lip.  "Aww…"  Frisket emitted a whimper.  "This second is just turning out completely 8-bit," he grumbled.

            Dot sighed.  "I'm sorry.  We'll make up the picnic another time, okay?" she assured him as she patted him on the back.  "Right now, I need to go to the Principal Office to help Phong prepare the reports so the inspector can look at them.  You just stay here."  She wanted him out of the way – maybe because the inspector didn't like kids or something.

            "Okay," he conceded.  Dot smiled, kissed him on the forehead and left the apartment.

            But Enzo was not going to stay here at all.  He turned to Frisket.  "We'll wait a few nanos, then go to the P.O. ourselves.  Maybe we can see the Guardian ship the inspector came in!  That would be pixelacious, huh?"  The dog wagged his tail.  Enzo patted him on the head.  "Yeah, I think so too."  He grinned mischievously.


	5. Chapter 4

            When Bob and Dweila arrived at the Principal Office control room, they found that Phong was ready to install the updates from the Guardian computer core.  He would need the proper password first, though.  Dweila decided to help Phong install the updates before she started on the interviews with him and the other P.O. staff, as she had been intending to do.  Which meant that Bob would have to stand there and wait for ten nanoseconds.  It was the waiting that really bothered him – being in the same room with the inspector while she was doing something else.  Because it was the only thing he could do, and he hated being in that kind of situation.

            He jumped a little when someone touched his shoulder, startling him out of his reverie, and spun around to see Dot standing behind him.  She had backspaced a step because of his reaction to the contact.  "I'm sorry," she said gently, stepping closer to him again. "I didn't mean to scare you."

            "It's all right," Bob said.  "I'm glad to see you.  Phong and the lieutenant are installing the updates now."  He indicated them with a jerk of his thumb.  "Then it's on to the interviews.  Which I can't be present at.  But I _will_ have to stand outside the door while she conducts them."  He sighed.  "Sorry.  I don't mean to just complain at you, but…"

            Dot smiled at him.  "I understand."  Bob managed to smile back at her.

            "Listen, about the picnic…" he began.

            "Guardian Bob," Dweila's voice came from behind him.  He turned around and stood at attention.  Rescheduling the picnic would have to wait.  "We have completed the installation.  Now we will see the Command.com about your performance review."

            "Yes ma'am," Bob responded.  "His office is on the next floor."  Dweila nodded and moved to follow him as he made his way to the door, giving Dot a _we'll talk later_ look on the way.  She nodded at him and mouthed the words _good luck_ in reply.

            Irrational as it seemed, Bob had the feeling that he was going to need it.

~***~

            After what seemed like an entire minute, Phong removed the Guardian computer core from the slot on the control panel and gave it back to Charl_E.  The binome wanted to rush out with it, but he had to make sure that he didn't arouse any suspicion.  He forced himself to walk at a normal pace as he returned to the hangar, then entered the Guardian craft.  Inside there was a red metal box with a handle on its curved lid.  Charl_E opened it, revealing the molded foam interior that would protect the computer core against damage.  He put the core in carefully, shut the box and closed the latches.  Then he started on the task of tuning up the craft, as he was expected to do, so that nobody would think he was behaving strangely.

            He managed to keep his mind on the task and had the ship tuned up in half a millisecond.  Now, he told himself, he just had to put his tools away in the locker room – because that was what he usually did – and then he could deliver the core to Hack and Slash at the rendezvous point and it would all be over with.  He gathered up his things, left the ship and headed for the locker room.

            "Hey!" he heard someone call to him.  Charl_E almost bolted right then and there, but instead he composed himself and turned around to see Enzo Matrix running up to him, with his dog Frisket close behind.  "'Scuse me," Enzo said, "But can you tell me where the Guardian ship is?"  He was grinning excitedly.  Charl_E felt relieved – so he wasn't in trouble.

            Or maybe he was.  Frisket was regarding him in a very menacing way, and in a few cycles the menacing look was accompanied by a growl.  Charl_E tried to ignore him.  "That way, sir," he answered, pointing in the direction of the Guardian ship.

            "Alphanumeric!  Thanks!  C'mon, Frisket!"  The sprite grabbed his dog by the collar and headed off toward the ship.  The dog shot Charl_E a final glare and a snarl as he was half-led, half-dragged away by his master.  Charl_E didn't stop himself from running this time, and when he got to the locker room he slammed the door shut behind him and leaned against it to catch his breath.

            After he had calmed down a bit, he went to his own locker, put the box down on a nearby bench, and opened the door.  He took off his tool belt and was getting his bag when someone behind him said "Hey, Charl_E!  How's it processin'?"  Charl_E spun around, startled.

            "Don't sneak up on me like that!" he yelled at Marcus, the mustached one binome who had spoken to him.  Marcus backspaced and held up a hand in a non-threatening gesture.

            "Whoa, what's with you today, man?"  Marcus approached closer again and put his lunchbox down on the bench.  His good nature usually made Charl_E feel better, but right now he just wanted to get out as fast as possible.

            "Sorry.  I had to tune up the Inspector's ship.  And I'm not feeling all that well, so I'm going to go home and get some rest."  Charl_E hoped that didn't sound as lame as he thought it was.

            "Well," Marcus said, "I hope you feel better soon.  Just take it easy, okay?" he grinned.

            Charl_E nodded, closed the locker behind him and picked up his box.  "I will.  Have a good second."  He waved as he left the locker room.  Soon it would all be over with, and he would be able to rest easy on the reward he'd get for pulling this job.

~***~

            Hack and Slash were waiting in the section of G-prime that was closest to the Principal Office.  Megabyte's influence was somewhat weak in this part of the sector for obvious reasons, but it since it was still nominally in his territory and close to the P.O., it was the best place for the meeting.

            Charl_E arrived a little later than he was supposed to, but Hack and Slash weren't the sort to care about punctuality – as long as the binome had succeeded in his part of the mission, it was just fine with them.  "I've got it," he told the robots, holding up a red box.  "It's in here."

            The two henchbots leaned forward to examine the box in Charl_E's outstretched hands.  Then they looked at each other.

            "You take it," Hack said first.

                        "No, you should take it."

            "But I always have to carry things!"  Hack protested as he rounded on his comrade and threw his hands up in the air.

                        "That is _not_ true.  I had to do the carrying last time."

            "No you did not!"

                        "Yes I did!"

            "Did not!"

                        "Did too!"

            "Well, I do not care. I _refuse_ to carry the box," Hack declared, crossing his arms and turning his back on Slash.  Charl_E, looking as if he were about to go into hysterics, took the opportunity to shove the box into Slash's arms before running off.

                        "Yay!" Slash cried triumphantly.  "I got the box!"

            "You _always_ get to hold the box," Hack cried, spinning around to face Slash again.

                        "Well, you got the last box."

            "No I did not!"

                        "You _said_ you did…" 


	6. Chapter 5

            In the top of the spire that stood in the center of the twisted wasteland that was Lost Angles, Hexadecimal, the self-styled Queen of Chaos, was draped across the arms of her throne, staring at the ceiling with blue eyes in a neutral mask.  Scuzzy, her familiar, hovered watchfully nearby.  Occasionally he would zip around the throne a few times and come to rest again in the same spot.

            Hexadecimal was bored.  To her it was a bad thing and to the rest of the system it had the potential to be a very, _very_ bad thing.  You know what they say about bored Chaos viruses.

            She sat up suddenly, her eyes green and her mask a bright smile.  "I know!  Perhaps we could…" Blue eyes, frowning mask.  "No.  We did that already."  She lay back again with a sigh, her mask resuming its neutral expression.  Scuzzy zipped closer to her and took up a position about half a nanometer over her head.  She waved him away absentmindedly.

            "Ooh!" she exclaimed, sitting up again.  "I know!  I could…" Blue eyes, dejected mask.  "Actually, that wouldn't be very much fun at all.  Would it, Scuzzy?"  Even if her familiar had known what she was talking about, his response would have been the same – he just hovered a nanometer away from the throne, making a peculiar purring sound.  She frowned at him.  "Hmph.  _You're_ no help."  Hex returned to her contemplation of the ceiling.

            After another nanosecond she sat up again, eyes green and mask smiling.  She swung herself around to a proper sitting position on her throne.  "Yes!"  Sinister, sharp-toothed smile.  "That would be _perfect_."

~***~

            "You're late," Megabyte informed his henchbots coldly.  He rotated his throne to face them.  "You _know_ how I disapprove of a lack of punctuality in my minions."  He held up one fist, extending the claws just a tiny bit in order to get his point across.

            The two robots backspaced a little, shuddering.  "B-b-but we don't even know what a p-p-punctuality _is_, boss!" Hack protested.

            Megabyte blinked at them, then put a hand over his face.  His best lines were wasted on low-level programs such as these.  "Never mind.  Do you have it?"

            Slash proffered a red box in his direction.  "Yessir, and here it is!"

            Megabyte smiled as he took the box in his hands.  "Excellent.  Once we have broken through the encryption, the codes to the Supercomputer will be…"

            "Why _hel-lo_, _dear_ brother!  And what are you up to this time?"  Megabyte whirled around to face Hexadecimal, who was hovering to the left of him.  Her eyes were green and her mask was a perfectly amiable smile.  How _infuriating._

            "It is _not_ any of your business," he informed her curtly, holding the box protectively.  Why did she have to choose _now_, of all times, to pester him?

Her smile turned into a grin – not a nasty grin, but certainly a mischievous one.  "What's in that precious box of yours?" she asked, gesturing at the object in his hands.  "I'm curious."  She leaned closer to him.

"Nothing you would be interested in," he snapped.  Hexadecimal's mask changed to a pouty frown and her eyes went from green to blue.  She leaned back again.

"Now now, why can't you be _polite_ to your sister?  I came to pay you a perfectly friendly visit and what do you do?"  She sniffed theatrically.  "You _yell_ at me."  Her eyes turned red and her mask became a scowl.  "Well, if you won't be nice, then _neither will I_."  Before Megabyte could react she had snatched the red box out of his hands and zipped upward, out of his reach.

"That's not yours, Hexadecimal," Megabyte growled.  "Return it to me _now_."

Her mask was a smile, but her eyes were red.  "Only If you ask _nicely_.  Then I _may_ give it back to you."  She held the box up in one hand and looked at it curiously.

She would probably break the computer core, just to spite him. Megabyte clenched his fists.  "It's mine.  Give it back."

"I said ask _nicely_," she snarled at him.  She knew perfectly well that her brother considered being beaten to deletion with a null a favorable alternative to being polite to her.

Megabyte slammed his fist on the arm of his throne.  "You will return it to me _this instant_ or I will…"

Hexadecimal threw back her head and laughed.  "What can you do to _me_, dear brother?"  She looked him in the eye, her mask a nasty grin, as if expecting him to answer.  But she was right, and Megabyte could do no more than glare at her.

She turned her attention to the box, her eyes went green and her mask became a pleasant smile.  "Now, let's see what it is that you're making such a fuss about."  Megabyte ground his teeth as she opened the lid of the box.

Hex's mask looked surprised for a moment.  Then it became a smile, and she started laughing again – not a cackle this time, but a laugh of genuine amusement.  Then she turned the box around in her hands so that he could see what was inside.

It wasn't the computer core.  It was someone's _lunch._  A thermos, two plastic-wrapped sandwiches, a bag of carrot sticks and a pudding cup.  Then she snatched the box away again and started examining its contents carefully.

Megabyte was only surprised for a moment – then he became angry.  He rounded on Hack and Slash, who were cowering against the wall.  "Would you care to explain _this_ little mix-up?" he asked them, his voice cold enough to freeze flame.

"It was not our fault!" Hack insisted.

            "We just got it from the binome like you said…"

"You told us not to open it…"

            "…then we brought it here…"

"…so we could not make sure!"

            "…and I was carrying it the whole way!"  They were practically shaking themselves to pieces with fear.

Although Megabyte was now convinced that this mistake had not been their fault, he glared at them for another few cycles, since their cowering made him feel a little better.  Then he turned away and tapped a button on the arm of his throne.

A few cycles later a VidWindow appeared in front of him, displaying the smiling face of Charl_E.  "Sir!" the binome addressed him with a deferential bow.  "Did you get the box I…"  He noticed the expression on Megabyte's face and faltered for a moment.  "…sent you?"

Megabyte tapped the tips of his fingers together.  "I did indeed receive the box," he answered ominously.  Then, with a wireframe-chilling glower: "_Do you know what was in it?_"

"Crunchy peanut butter!" Hexadecimal exclaimed happily.  Megabyte spun around to shoot a quick glare at her, but ended up doing a doubletake.

His sister, green-eyed and smiling, had unwrapped one of the sandwiches from the lunchbox and was holding it in one hand.  There was a bite of it missing, a bite that _she_ had obviously taken, but as to how she had done it Megabyte could not even guess.

Leaving it as a puzzle for another time, he turned his attention back to his spy.  "You gave me the wrong box," he informed the hapless Charl_E.

The binome gulped.  "P-p-p-please sir, forgive me.  It w-was a mix-up.  I can get you the right b-b-b-box, I know what happened to it…"

Megabyte considered this.  If there was still a chance of obtaining the computer core, he would take it.  "Very well," he answered.  "Bring it to the rendezvous point within the millisecond and we will forget about this…accident.  Otherwise…" he lifted his right hand and extended his claws.  Charl_E cringed, shaking as hard as the henchbots had been earlier.

"Yes sir, right away sir," Charl_E gibbered.  Megabyte nodded, tapped a button and closed the connection.  Then he turned to the robots.

"Hack, Slash, meet Charl_E at the rendezvous point and pick up the box.  This time make sure that it's the _right_ box."

Hack saluted.  "Yes sir, your all-powerfulness!"

            "Right away!"

"We will have that box in…"

            "We will bring it right here!"

"Yeah, and everything will be just…"

"_Now, you idiots!_" Megabyte roared.  The henchbots spun around, zipped for the door, and collided with each other on the way out.

Hexadecimal giggled.  "I like them.  They're _very_ funny."

Megabyte narrowed his eyes at his sister, who had finished the sandwich (how did she _do_ that?) and was contemplating the thermos.  He would have to find a way to convince her to leave before Hack and Slash returned with the computer core.

~***~

            In the cafeteria, Marcus put his lunchbox on the table before him and opened it, wondering what pleasant surprise his wife had packed for him this second.  There was a surprise in the box, but it wasn't exactly pleasant.  It wasn't edible, either.  It was a complicated-looking device, roughly cylindrical in shape, resting in a bed of foam.  Marcus was peering perplexedly at it when someone tapped him on the shoulder.  He turned around, closing the lid of the box as he did so, and saw Charl_E behind him.

            "Hey, Charl_E!  I thought you'd gone home for the second," he said brightly.

            "Uhhh…well, I was, but I came back when I realized that we'd mixed up our boxes," he said.

            "Oh.  So _that's_ what happened to my lunch!" Marcus picked up the box and held it out to Charl_E, who took it with mumbled thanks.

            "I'm…afraid that I left yours in the locker room," Charl_E apologized.  "Let's go and get it."

            Marcus got out of his seat.  "Okay!  Lead the way!"  Charl_E nodded and the two of them headed for the locker room.

            Once they had reached their destination and closed the door behind them, Charl_E stopped and turned to look at Marcus.  Only then did Marcus realize that something was terribly wrong.

            "I'm sorry about this," Charl_E told him, "But it has to be done."  With that, he hefted the red box and hit Marcus over the head with it, hard.


	7. Chapter 6

            Like most young sprites, Enzo had a rather short attention span where most things were concerned.  The Guardian craft, however, kept him occupied for the better part of a half-millisecond.  He had examined every detail in wide-eyed fascination, played a make-believe game of "shoot the Web creatures" at its helm, and "accidentally" pressed a button or two – though none of them seemed to have any noticeable effect.  But he had just about exhausted the possibilities for fun here, and he didn't want anyone to catch him where he wasn't supposed to be, so he decided that it was time to head home.

            "Okay, Frisket," he addressed his faithful companion.  "We'd better go home now.  C'mon."  While the young sprite had enjoyed himself immensely, Frisket had not shown much interest in the ship, and had chosen instead to curl up on a bench in the rear of it.  Now, though, he perked up and leaped down from his seat, shook himself and followed his master out the door of the ship.

            Had Enzo been here on his own, he could have taken his zipboard out the open hangar bay door.  Since Frisket was with him, he would have to go to one of the walkways instead, because Frisket could not use a zipboard and, though he could find his way around, was unable to open doors by himself.  The two of them left the hangar for a wide corridor, which would lead them to a lift for the ground level.  But when Enzo turned right to head for the lift, Frisket turned left, in the air.  Then the dog began to growl.

            Enzo turned around.  "What is it, boy?  Whaddaya smell?"  Frisket trotted in the direction of the scent he had picked up and Enzo, curious, followed after him.  After they had gone a few micrometers down the corridor, Frisket put his nose to the ground instead, following a scent trail.  The dog stopped at a door, one that Enzo had never entered before, and started to whimper.  He looked at Enzo imploringly.

            "In here?" Enzo asked, reading the sign on the door.  It was a locker room, probably for the technicians who worked on the CPUs.  Frisket confirmed his choice by nodding and pawing at the door.  With a shrug, Enzo put his hand to the panel by the side of the door, and it slid open.  Then he moved aside for Frisket, who began sniffing the floor again.

            After a few moments, the dog raised his head and emitted a growl.  Enzo followed the dog as he trotted up to another door, this one with a handle rather than a touchpad, and was very surprised to hear faint noises coming from the other side – banging and incomprehensible yelling.

            "There's someone in there!" Enzo cried as he straightened up.  Frisket let out a loud whimper of assent as his master turned the handle and pulled the door open.

            A One binome stumbled out of the boiler room on the other side, looked at Enzo, for a moment, then gave him a grateful hug.  "Oh, thankyouthankyouthanyou!  I thought I'd never get out!  It was just awful, it was all stuffy and dark and I'm scared of…"

            "Whoa, hold on a nano!" Enzo exclaimed as extricated himself from the binome's embrace.  "How did you get locked in there in the first place?"

~***~

            While Dweila and Phong were going over the system records in the Principal Office control room, Dot took the opportunity to talk to Bob in the corridor outside.  Although the inspector had treated Dot with a lot of coldness and contempt, she couldn't bring herself to leave her friend in his time of need.  So she had set her chin and weathered through it with him.  Though she didn't know how much longer she'd be able to stand Dweila's treatment without going completely random.

            "Everything seems to be going all right," Bob told her.  He seemed a little better than he had this morning.

            Dot nodded.  "I told you it would.  But I still can't wait until she leaves," Dot admitted, scowling at the control room door.

            Bob shrugged.  "I think it'll only be another millisecond.  Unless a Game comes down, or something else happens."  She could tell that just thinking about it made him more nervous – she put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

            "Let's just hope that Dweila is the only unpleasant surprise we get this second," Dot said.

            It was then that another unpleasant surprise arrived in the form of Enzo, with Frisket hot on his heels, skidding around a bend in the corridor.  "Bob!  Dot!  I'm glad you're here, you have to…"

            "Enzo!" Dot interrupted, crossing her arms and frowning at her little brother, "Didn't I tell you to stay at home?  What are you _doing_ here?"  He had better have a good excuse.

            Enzo sighed exasperatedly.  "I'm sorry, I came to see the Guardian ship."  Dot narrowed her eyes.  "But can I be in trouble later?  This is _really_ important."

            Dot was surprised for a moment, but managed to resume her glare in less than two cycles.  She kept it fixed on her brother while she considered what to do next.  "All right.  But it had _better_ be serious."

            It certainly _was_ serious; Enzo told them about the binome he had found stuck in the locker room boiler closet, and how he had gotten there.  As he told his story, Bob's face became progressively paler and paler, as if all the nervousness that had lifted off his shoulders earlier were crashing down on him again.  By the time Enzo had finished speaking Bob was more white than blue.  Dot couldn't blame him – they both knew what this meant.  It was obvious.

            "Megabyte's got the computer core," Bob said in a near-whisper.  He took a deep, shuddering breath, then squared his shoulders.  "Okay.  I guess that means I'll have to get it back," he said, in a stronger voice.

            "What should _we_ do?" Enzo asked.

            Bob looked significantly at the control room door, then back at Dot and her brother.  "_Stall her,_" he answered in a voice cracked with panic, before running off down the corridor.

~***~

            Hexadecimal uploaded herself into her mask and vanished, leaving a rather unsettled Megabyte and a smoking hole in the throne room wall behind her.  Megabyte had finally convinced her to leave by ignoring her – attention was what she'd been seeking, after all – and his strategy had succeeded, but it had also made Hex angry enough to toss a fireball at him.  She had not managed to delete him, but she had done some rather irritating damage; now part of his throne was reduced to slag and he had a grand view of G-Prime through a ragged round gap in the wall.  Megabyte sighed, tapped a button, and maneuvered the crippled throne to his pair of legs as it came up from a hole in the floor.  He had just finished transferring himself onto them when Hack and Slash arrived.

            "We got it, boss!"  Hack exclaimed, triumphantly brandishing a red box, the twin of the one that Slash had brought in earlier.

                        "Yeah, we got it!"

            "And it is…"

                        "…the right one!"

            "We made sure!  Everything is…"  Hack finally noticed the damage Hex had done on her way out.

                        "Uhhh…what happened, boss?" Slash asked.

            "Never mind that," Megabyte snapped, striding up to Hack with an outstretched hand.  "Give it to me!" Hack obliged him by handing over the box.  Megabyte opened it and, to his delight, found the object he was looking for inside.  "At last," he began, removing it from its foam bed, "The path to the Supercomputer is mine!"  He dropped the red box, which made a loud, echoing _clang_ as it hit the floor.


	8. Chapter 7

            Bob headed for Silicon Tor as fast as his zipboard could go.  He knew he was taking a big risk, flying high and in plain view over Megabyte's domain, but he didn't have the time for a stealthy approach.  Better to just get in, grab the computer core and get out as quickly as possible.  If he didn't get it back, he wouldn't be the only one to suffer for it – Dweila would probably call in a viral incident team to delete both Megabyte and Hexadecimal.  And a lot of innocent dataforms would probably get caught in the crossfire.

            He realized then that he was, against all sense, more afraid of Dweila than he was of Megabyte.  That _really _bothered him.

            But he had other things to deal with now.  He was close enough to Silicon Tor to make out a large hole in the wall near the top of the tower – although he had no idea what might have created it, but it its ragged edges and irregular shape made it obvious that the hole was not supposed to be there.  For Bob, however, the hole was not a nuisance, but a shortcut to Megabyte's throne room.

~***~

            "How long will it take to break the encryption, Herr Doktor?"  Megabyte leaned over the binome's shoulder (so to speak) and watched him as his fingers played over the console keys.  The computer core was standing on a small pedestal nearby; a thick cable, plugged into its uppermost end, connected it to the code-breaking machine the Doktor was working on.

            "Less zen half a millizecond, Mein Herr," the binome informed him.  He pressed a final button and the two large grids of colored lights on the upright part of the apparatus flickered to life.  Megabyte looked up at it with satisfaction.

            "Very good," he told his servant.  "It will only be a matter of time until I have my portal…"

            "I don't think so!" a familiar and most unwelcome voice objected from behind him.  The virus whirled around to see Bob fly in through the unfortunate hole in the wall.  He usually turned up at the most inconvenient times but…how had he found out about the computer core?

            Megabyte had sent Hack and Slash away once they had made their delivery, and he had not called any of his soldiers up to the throne room.  That had been, he realized, a mistake – he would have to deal with the Guardian himself.  "Call the guards," he told Herr Doktor as he rushed to meet his adversary with extended claws.  The scientist didn't need to be told twice – he darted out of the room to get reinforcements.

            The cursed Guardian managed to dodge Megabyte's charge and swooped up to the ceiling of the throne room, then made a beeline for the computer core on its pedestal.  Megabyte spun around and made a great leap, intending to pounce on Bob and tear him to pieces with his claws.  But things didn't work out that way.

            "Glitch!  Energy shield!"  The bright yellow barrier came up just as Megabyte hit the Guardian, knocking him off his zipboard.  Bob rolled away from Megabyte and got to his feet as the virus tried to collect himself, then brandished his keytool.  "Glitch!  Cutter!" he ordered.  The keytool's gearwheel became a small buzz saw, which zipped across the room to sever the cable connecting the Guardian computer core to the code-breaking machine.  The latter device emitted a loud buzz and the lights across its face froze as it was disconnected from the object of its operations.

            "You will _pay_ for that, Guardian," Megabyte growled as he got to his feet and took a swipe at Bob.  His opponent dodged, darted under his guard and ran for the pedestal.  Before Megabyte could get in another swipe, the Guardian took a flying leap, grabbed the computer core in his arc over the pedestal and hit the floor rolling.

            But his efforts would be to no avail if he couldn't get out of the Tor.  Megabyte leaped again, this time putting himself between Bob and his zipboard as the Guardian was heading for it.  Without even a pause Bob changed course and headed for the hole in the wall, just as the door to the throne room burst open and a score of Megabyte's vial soldiers poured through.

            Megabyte didn't know what Bob intended to do, but he wasn't going to wait and find out.  "Get him, you fools!" the virus ordered.  The binomes formed up, lowered their energy pikes and began to shoot at the fleeing Guardian.  One bolt would have hit him if he hadn't been in the process of jumping through the gap in the wall and into the open air beyond.

            The virus and his minions had only a few cycles in which to be shocked, for the Guardian rose into view again, suspended in the air by his keytool's helicopter rotor, the computer core held securely in the crook of his right elbow.  He grinned triumphantly at Megabyte as Glitch flew him away to the Principal Office.

             Megabyte slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand as his archenemy vanished into the distance.  "Cursors!  Foiled again!"

~***~

            Dot breathed a sigh of relief as Bob came in through the hangar door, the computer core under one arm.  She ran to him as he touched down on the floor nearby.  Glitch retracted the rotor blade it had brought him in on, and he started shaking his arm vigorously to get the energy flowing again.

            "Are you all right?" Dot asked him.  Bob stopped shaking his arm and smiled at her, then held out the computer core.  She took it carefully, noting the remains of the cable plugged into its input/output port.

            "I'm fine," he said, tapping his icon to change back into his dress uniform.  Then his smile vanished.  "Umm…where's the inspector?"

            Dot grinned.  "Playing Pong with Phong."

            Bob blinked.  "How did he…"

            "Don't ask," Dot interrupted, rolling her eyes.  "I'll get this installed in the ship again – you go rejoin Dweila before she gets suspicious."  Bob nodded and started jogging for the door, then stopped and turned to her again.

            "Dot?"

            "Yes?"

            Pause.

            "Thanks.  For everything."  Dot smiled to herself as Bob turned again and headed out of the hangar bay.

~***~

            The inspector actually seemed to be in a good mood when Bob saw her off a quarter of a millisecond later.  Maybe it was because she had beaten Phong at his favorite game.  And maybe her present good mood was the reason why Bob didn't find her so intimidating now, although there might have been more to it than that.

            "Well, I must say that I'm impressed by your performance, Bob," she told him.  "You've passed your inspection with flying colors."

            If Bob had not been feeling so drained at the moment, he might have had to force himself to keep from jumping for joy.  "Thank you, ma'am."

            Dweila looked at him in an odd way for a few moments.  "About what we discussed earlier…there's still time to change your mind."

            Bob shook his head.  "No thank you, ma'am.  My answer is the same."

            After a moment of silence, she nodded.  "Very well, then."  She saluted, and Bob returned it.  Then the inspector turned, entered her ship and closed the hatch.  Bob stepped back as the white craft rose into the air.  It passed slowly over the CPUs and binomes in the hangar bay, then picked up speed once it departed the bay door.  In a few cycles it was nothing more than a bright spot in the distance over the Energy C – then it was gone.

            "_Bob_!" he turned around just in time to be knocked to the floor by an overenthusiastic Enzo.  "Dot told me that you got the computer core back from Megabyte!  How did you…"

            "Enzo…can't…breathe…" Bob gasped out.  The little sprite muttered an apology and clambered off him.  Bob sat up, trying to catch his breath.  He got to his feet as Dot approached.

            "I passed," he told her, a grin spreading over his face.  Now that it was all over, he felt light enough to float up into the air.

            "Congratulations!" she replied.  "Now…how about we celebrate at the Diner, to make up for you missing the picnic?"

            That invitation was the best thing that had happened to him all day.  "Dot, that sounds like one of your most brilliant plans yet."

~END FILE~


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